Planet Rock (song)
|hip hop}} | Length = 7:31 | Label = | Writer = | Producer = | Certification = | Chronology = Afrika Bambaataa singles | Last single = "Jazzy Sensation" (1981) | This single = "Planet Rock" (1982) | Next single = "Looking for the Perfect Beat" (1983) | Misc = }} "Planet Rock" is a 1982 song by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. The song featured Marvella Murray, Yvette Murray, Melissa Johnson and Sandra Wheeler on additional background vocals. Although it was primarily an underground hit in the United States, Canada, and UK, it helped change the foundations of hip-hop and dance music and became one of the most influential pieces and a milestone and eventually an icon of the hip-hop, breakdance and electronic music cultures. It is credited with pioneering the genre and developing the electro style, building on the work of Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and George Clinton, combined with distinctive Roland TR-808 beats, and helped pave the way for other genres such as techno, house and trance. In November 2004, "Planet Rock" placed at number 240 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and number 10 in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs. "Planet Rock" peaked at number four on the soul chart and number forty-eight on the Hot 100, and went to number three on the dance charts. Background and recording Afrika Bambaataa recorded the song with the Soulsonic Force and producer Arthur Baker in a Manhattan studio, the New York City Upper East Side Intergalactic Studios, a popular site for NYC clubscene productions. The song blends synthesizer and vocoder sounds with breakbeats on a Roland TR-808 drum machine.''808'' (documentary film) Toward the end of the scheduled recording session, NYC music clubscene fixtures DJ David Azarc, soundman Jim Toth, and promoter Tom Goodkind—all from the Peppermint Lounge—asked Arthur to please hurry. The three had scheduled the next recording session for a band that would become the Washington Squares. Ever accommodating, Arthur told them that things would move faster if they assisted him with the backup vocals. The voices singing "rock it don't stop it" on "Planet Rock" are in fact those of the Washington Squares. Bambaataa cited the influence of synthpop pioneers Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), funk pioneer George Clinton, new wave artist Gary Numan, and funk artists James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone. Bambaataa's concept was to merge these electronic and funk influences together, along with TR-808 beats, to create electro-funk. He has acknowledged Kraftwerk as an influence, but has expressed that their contributions to his work, overall style and aesthetic have been over-emphasized, stating that "Kraftwerk was one part of a sound," while citing YMO, George Clinton, Gary Numan and the TR-808 as other major influences on his work. YMO, for example, utilized the Roland TR-808 drum machine in 1980, with YMO member Ryuichi Sakamoto anticipating electro's beats and sounds with "Riot in Lagos" (1980). (see online link) Composition The use of the Roland TR-808 drum machine gives the beats in "Planet Rock" a distinctive sound. The melody interpolates parts of Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" (1977). The Japanese counting part "Ichi, ni, san, shi" was used in YMO's "Rap Phenomena" (1981) and Kraftwerk's "Numbers" (1981). "Planet Rock" also features a brief synthesizer arrangement of the whistling melody from Ennio Morricone's For a Few Dollars More soundtrack. Track listings # "Planet Rock" # "Planet Rock" (Bonus Beats) # "Planet Rock" (Instrumental) Personnel * Engineer - Bob Rosa, Jan D. Burnett * Executive Producer - Tom Silverman * Mastered By - Herb Powers Jr. * Mixed by, Producer - Arthur Baker * Keyboards by John Robie * Roland Programming by Jay Dorfman * 7" & 12" edits by Jellybean Benitez * Video By - Video Mix Productions - Danny Cornyetz & Jessica Jason Instruments * Roland TR-808 drum machine * Fairlight CMI Series II 8-bit sampler (orchestra hit "ORCH5" ) * Moog Micromoog and Prophet 5 (John Robie's keyboards as stated by Arthur Baker in Sound on Sound) * Lexicon PCM41 for Bambaataa's "vocoder" sound (with delay setting) Legacy Since its release, "Planet Rock" has had a significant influence on music and on popular culture. In 2008, it was ranked number 21 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. In 2012, Rolling Stone s list of "The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time" included "Planet Rock" at number three.The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time: Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force, 'Planet Rock', Rolling Stone The influence of "Planet Rock" can still be heard in hip-hop sub-genres such as G-funk and in the work of producers such as Timbaland and The Neptunes, who use electro-based sounds in their productions. Cybotron's Juan Atkins cited "Planet Rock" as an influence on his Detroit techno sound in the 1980s.Cosgrove, S. (b), [http://www.ele-mental.org/ele_ment/said&did/techno_liner_notes.html Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit liner notes], 10 Records Ltd. (UK), 1988 (LP: DIXG 75; CD: DIXCD 75). In the Black Star cover of Slick Rick's "Children's Story," Mos Def criticizes a fictitious DJ for the overuse of sampling the classics. He says in the song that the DJ "jacked the beat to 'Planet Rock'," which is ironic and potentially misleading, since one might say that the beat to "Planet Rock" was "jacked" from a Kraftwerk song, as mentioned earlier. In 1998, Afrika Bambaataa produced a remix combining electro and house music elements, called "Planet Rock '98," which is regarded as an early example of the electro house genre. The song was remixed by Paul Oakenfold for the 2001 film soundtrack album Swordfish, and was sampled by LL Cool J in the song "Control Myself." The band, altogether with the repeating line "Just hit me", is quoted by James Murphy in the final rant of the LCD Soundsystem single "Losing My Edge". References * Ross, Sean (1992). In Street Jams: Electric Funk Part 1 liner notes. Burbank, CA: Rhino/Atlantic Records. External links * class=song|id=t1107363|pure_url=yes}} Review of "Planet Rock" from Allmusic * John Topley's Weblog: Thirty Years of Fairlight * Category:1982 singles Category:Afrika Bambaataa songs Category:Songs written by Arthur Baker (musician) Category:Songs written by John Robie Category:1982 songs Category:Song recordings produced by Arthur Baker (musician) Category:Tommy Boy Records singles Category:Songs written by Ralf Hütter Category:Songs written by Florian Schneider Category:Warner Bros. Records singles